{"id":37167,"date":"2016-03-18T05:31:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T11:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=37167"},"modified":"2026-03-05T07:02:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T13:02:03","slug":"yellow-bellied-marmots-at-capitol-reef-national-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/18\/yellow-bellied-marmots-at-capitol-reef-national-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Yellow-bellied Marmots at Capitol Reef National Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The highlight of my morning yesterday was photographing two Yellow-bellied Marmots at Capitol Reef National Park. I saw several more but could not get photos of them because a fence was in the way.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-171180 size-full\" title=\"Yellow-bellied Marmot at Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-capitol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8792.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-capitol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8792.jpg\" alt=\"Yellow-bellied Marmot at Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"545\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27545%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20545%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27545%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-capitol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8792-200x121.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-capitol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8792-400x242.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-capitol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8792-600x363.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-capitol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8792-768x465.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-capitol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8792.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Yellow-bellied Marmot at Capitol Reef National Park &#8211; Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2500, ISO 640, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This first marmot was already busy gathering grasses and at one point had a mouthful of them. Yellow-bellied Marmots hibernate during the winter and I always get excited when I see them out of their burrows in the spring.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-171185 size-full\" title=\"Yellow-bellied Marmot warming up on a boulder, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815.jpg\" alt=\"Yellow-bellied Marmot warming up on a boulder, Capitol Reef National Park, Wayne County, Utah\" width=\"850\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20850%20607%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27850%27%20height%3D%27607%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815-600x428.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815-768x548.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815.jpg 850w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Yellow-bellied Marmot warming up on a boulder &#8211; Nikon D810, f6.3, 1\/2000, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.inaturalist.org\/taxa\/46086-Marmota-flaviventris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Yellow-bellied Marmots<\/span><\/a> are nicknamed &#8220;Whistle Pigs&#8221; for the sounds they make and &#8220;Rock Chucks&#8221; for the habitat they are found in.<\/p>\n<p>This image shows that type of habitat well. I don&#8217;t know what this marmot had been doing before I saw it climb up the rocks but once it got to the top it stretched out in the warmth of the sun and seemed to be very relaxed.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/yellow-bellied-marmot-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Yellow-bellied Marmot photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The highlight of my morning yesterday was photographing two Yellow-bellied Marmots at Capitol Reef National Park. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":171185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1427,26,2486,231],"tags":[4004,4138,3747,4109,2241,4984,4156,2242,5146,4985,2243,4032,5869,4029],"class_list":["post-37167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capitol-reef-national-park-utah","category-utah","category-wayne-county","category-yellow-bellied-marmots","tag-adult","tag-boulder","tag-grass","tag-grasses","tag-marmota-flaviventris","tag-marmots","tag-resting","tag-rock-chuck","tag-warming","tag-warming-up","tag-whistle-pig","tag-wildlife-photography","tag-yellow-belly-marmot","tag-yellow-bellied-marmot"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-captiol-reef-mia-mcpherson-8815.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-9Ft","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103279,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/06\/14\/yellow-bellied-marmot-photos-from-the-uinta-mountains\/","url_meta":{"origin":37167,"position":0},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Photos From The Uinta Mountains","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week I showed my friend Steve Mirror Lake Highway in the Uinta Mountains and I was able to put him on a lifer Yellow-bellied Marmot.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Summit County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Summit County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/summit-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-bellied Marmot in the Uinta Mountains, Uinta National Forest, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/yellow-bellied-marmot-adult-high-uintas-mia-mcpherson-6362.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101550,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/13\/yellow-bellied-marmot-babies\/","url_meta":{"origin":37167,"position":1},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Babies","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago I was thrilled to have four small Yellow-bellied Marmot babies to observe and photograph on some rocks in far northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Box Elder County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-bellied Marmot baby looking out from a crevice, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-baby-mia-mcpherson-7175.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":126962,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/04\/01\/yellow-bellied-marmot-on-a-cliff\/","url_meta":{"origin":37167,"position":2},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot On A Cliff","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On April Fool's Day of 2022, I was up in far northern Utah where I spotted this adult male Yellow-bellied Marmot warming up in the morning sun on a cliff.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Box Elder County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult male Yellow-bellied Marmot on a cliff, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8926.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8926.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8926.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-male-cliff-face-mia-mcpherson-8926.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101349,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-in-some-rocks\/","url_meta":{"origin":37167,"position":3},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmot Pup In A Crack In Some Rocks","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I was delighted to find and photograph a Yellow-bellied Marmot pup peeking out of a crack in some lichen-covered rocks on the 1st of April in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Box Elder County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Yellow-bellied Marmot pup in a crack in the rocks, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/yellow-bellied-marmot-pup-in-a-crack-mia-mcpherson-8888.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109953,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/02\/02\/a-shadow-will-be-seen\/","url_meta":{"origin":37167,"position":4},"title":"A Shadow Will Be Seen","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning a shadow will be seen by any Yellow-bellied Marmots that venture above the snow-covered, frozen ground in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Box Elder County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Yellow-bellied Marmot in February, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmot-february-male-mia-mcpherson-1740.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":50831,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/02\/02\/yellow-bellied-marmots-on-groundhog-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":37167,"position":5},"title":"Yellow-bellied Marmots on Groundhog Day","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Punxsutawney Phil can have the spotlight today, our Yellow-bellied Marmots will have their time in the sun soon enough.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Box Elder County&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Box Elder County","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/locations\/utah\/box-elder-county-utah\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Curious Yellow-bellied Marmot, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0224.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0224.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/yellow-bellied-marmot-rocks-mia-mcpherson-0224.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}